Today's S3 drive - Buxton reccy

Went on a little "Buxton" reccy today. You know how it gets, you truddle to work every day, very little chance to open the car up. So I decided to combine a trip to Links Audi in Macclesfield with meeting up with an old S3/Club Audi mate, Simon (some will remember Simon from previous Buxton meets), and a drive up the "Cat &amp; Fiddle" road and a brew in the Pub of the same name.

Glorious sunshine, dry tarmac, more traffic than I'd have liked, but hey, overtaking is fun. Simon hadn't been in an S3 for a while, having sold his just before Christmas last year. Reason, just the right time to sell before the "new" model. Anyway, as soon as I hit the go pedal at the 50kph sign (yeah right, like I'm gonna stick to that) it was smiles all the way up the road. Simon had forgotten how punchy the car is from low down. One 2nd gear squirt of an overtake in a stream of slow moving cars reminded him.

Once the tractor had pulled in, and the two cars behind it disposed of, it was a clear road all the way up to the pub.

What can I say - ignore the bleedin car magazines, this car does handle well (in the dry at least). The steering felt sharp today too, it loaded up really well in the bends. Acceleration out of bends was fantastic, even re-impressed someone who used to have an S3! The car was just brilliant. It was balanced in the bends, there was no understeer. The brakes did okay too, but some with a bit more feel and a little less fade would make the car even faster point-to-point.

From the Cat &amp; Fiddle we went down the Buxton-to-Macclesfield road, A54. This is a lot more choppy than the Cat &amp; Fiddle, and because its mostly down hill, its hard on the brakes. So didn't go as quick down this road. But we'll be going up this road on the Buxton meet, and its much better in that direction.

On the way back from Macclesfield, a mk3 Golf decided to have a go at some traffic lights. Yep I went into "fast launch practitioner" mode (thanks for that term Benjy). I didn't give it the full 3000 this time, about 2-2.5. Car bogged down a little, but once rolling, the S3 was just in a different class. I gave the guy another demo at the next set of lights, just in case he'd missed it the first time around. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Anyway, just thought I'd do a "I'm happy with my car today" kind of post for a change. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/1luvu.gif

Anyone else have a good day?

AL

PS: Should just say, the performance of my S3 was right on the button today. Yet people with chipped cars who switch back to stock mode say its so slow in comparison - if this is slow, I can't imagine what a chipped one is like. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Sounds like you had a wicked drive. I remember our drive along the same stretch - both our passengers were $hitting a brick I think! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

It's funny you say about standard performance being slow because it isn't really. Standard on a good day is only a bit slower than chipped on a bad day. Its when you get the right conditions to max the advantage of the chip that you really feel a big difference. In sixth it pulls past 100mph a lot faster than it could in standard.

I am still to try high boost mode because I don't have an SPS dongle yet. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Re going down the cat and fiddle pass (i.e. from c&amp;f to macc), my old man still maintains that if your brakes don't fade going down there, you are simply not going fast enough /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

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